Bolts keep faint playoff hopes alive

MERALCO finally snapped out of its funk, but it sure was made to sweat.

It took a big game from Garvo Lanete and a key stop in the dying seconds before the Bolts could squeak past Phoenix 92-90 last night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Lanete scored a personal season-high 24 points while Chris Newsome stuck to Jeff Chan like a leech in the last 11 seconds to eventually foil the Fuel Master’s bid to come up with at least an equalizer.

“It was a really hard-fought game and I’m just happy my guys stayed in there, fighting until the very end,” said Bolts coach Norman Black.

“We really had to dig deep to win this,” added Black, “seeing a big lead go, then the other team catches up and even take the lead.”

The win cut short Meralco’s four-game slide and improved its record to 3-6, although it remained at 11th place, one full game out of the eighth and last quarterfinals slot.

Treating the game like a championship also helped in keeping Meralco’s faint hopes alive, according to Black, whose team still needs to win its remaining elimination round assignments against Ginebra and Magnolia to stay in the hunt.

“For us, had we lost we’re out,” explained Black. “Even if we win we could still be out, but at least we’d have a fighting chance.”

Like in an 85-87 loss to NLEX last Friday, Meralco once again lost a sizable lead (29-13) and this time even found itself trailing 70-75 going into the last 12 minutes of play.

Good thing Lanete and Anjo Caram were there to score seven points apiece in the fourth period that helped galvanize the Bolts.

Lanete’s floater gave Meralco a 92-85 lead, but even that proved shaky when Jason Perkins and Chan pulled Phoenix back to within 90-92.

The Fuel Masters even had the chance to at least tie the count when Mendoza won a jump ball over Newsome, but the latter atoned by stymieing Chan, forcing the latter to hit the back iron on his double-clutch triple try.

“We just told everybody to stay on top of their guys,” related Black. “Newsome stayed on him, followed him everywhere he goes. It worked out pretty good for us. Newsome got a finger tip on it, deflected the ball.”

The loss dropped Phoenix to 4-5, notwithstanding the 24 points of Willy Wilson and at least 10 points each from Matthew Wright, RJ Jazul and Jason Perkins.

Wright could have helped in the endgame, but he fouled out with still 2:58 to go.

Already playing minus Ranidel de Ocampo (calf) and Jared Dillinger (infected toe), Meralco also saw Cliff Hodge leaving the game late in the third quarter after injuring his left knee following a collision with Wilson. He wound up with 17 points.

Rating:

No votes yet

Column of the Day

‘The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1, et seq.) is a United States federal law known primarily for its main provision: Against bribery of foreign countries’ food management officials.’

About Malaya

Malaya Business Insight's weekday sections treat readers to timely articles on shipping, banking, information and technology, automotive and motoring, real estate and property development, travel and tourism and people and sectoral events. Special issues and supplements are designed to enrich current information and data files of readers with pre-selected topics of national and local significance.